2talltim

It's with a heavy heart that I tell you all the news that we lost one of our own. @Howabusa Kent Howard (Robert K. Howard) Kent passed away at his home on Sept 12,2025 of an unknown illness. Many of us have ridden with Kent on his old Hyabusa and more recently on his FJR. Spent many a night at deal's gap with him and chasing each other around the Appalachian Mountains. His passing was very unexpected and shared with me by his widow Connie. There was no services and has been laid to rest next to his father. Just a few weeks before his passing he did get one last trip to Deals Gap and got one last lick at those mountains and slayed the dragon for old times sake. And I'm sure he wanted you all to know his FJR hit 124,000miles during that trip.. 😂..an inside joke his good friends will get. Ride on my old friend you will be missed.

Got the very old girl all shined up. Getting her ready for some Appalachian mountain abuse. Damn, I still love this damn thing.

All is good now. Pulled the tank dump the gas, wiped out as much as we could. Gave it a quick rinse. Fresh gas and seafoam and she's running like a dream again.

Aftermarket gas cap with failed o-rings due to them not being ethanol compatible and 10years old. Parked under the eve of the building to where basically a waterfall was on the tank of my bike for hours in a monsoon. Equals probably a half a gallon of water in the gas tank.

Spent all day Saturday going over all three bikes. Servicing, going over bolts and fluids and a deep detail of them. So all three are as clean and ready for the season as they could ever be. Time to log the miles. Even though I've already had a Gap trip under my belt a few weeks ago and ready to make trip #2.

Congratulations Fellas!!!!

Maybe I'll jump in this conversation. So I'm at the point where I "could" retire early. Way different circumstances from most of you all. My situation is I am debt free, have almost five times my annual salary in my 401k, almost 29 years of pension build up, and I have a sugar mama that is about to get promoted. That last one is the key for me. I've worked my entire life at a bullshit corporate industrial job to raise my family and put food on the table. Many you probably remember me posting in the past about working all weekends and barely be able to get away and do things. Years ago my wife wanted to go back to school and so I worked so much overtime and weekends to make that happen. The agreement was that I could retire early and she would take care of me in the future. So then last year she went back to school again to get her master's degree in healthcare administration. And in the very near future the manager of her office is retiring and my wife should be a shoe end to take her place which also comes with a substantial pay increase and benefits. And while the thought of retiring early is enticing I'm just happy that I'm at a point to where I could just walk away and say fuck it at any time. I mean that peace of mind is paying dividends as we My work is so slow right now and they're actually talks of layoffs. and it doesn't bother me in the least a little bit. I'll stick around as long as I can or as long as I feel like. I mean let's face it, every year I work is more pension dollars and 401K savings(which I'm currently stashing 30% of my paychecks into my 401k) At this point my income is the play money, and we like to play. So that's where I'm at, debt free, a nice nest egg, empty nesters and a spouse that loves what she does and doesn't mind doing it. Now when I actually do pull the trigger and retire, I don't think I would retire completely either. Would absolutely want to pick up a gig that I like or love. Maybe bounce around different jobs like motorcycle shop or parts counter or even just turn wrenches in my own garage.

There are a few of us going down next week to Deals Gap and staying at the GDMR. Originally it was just me going down by myself but now a few others have decided to join me. So I thought I would open the invite to anyone else that can make last minute plans. As of the time of this post they still have a couple available rooms. Link will be below. I will be down 7/21-7/26 A couple other guys will be joining me in my room 7/22-7/26 And one other got his own room from 7/23-7-26 So the more the merrier if you want to come down and hang with some bubbys. This is not an official organized trip or endrorced in anyway by anyone. It's show up on your own do your own thing or put together your own group rides or just hang out. Here is a link to room availability. https://secure.webrez.com/Bookings105/transaction-calendar.html?&hotel_id=1914&date_from=20210515&mode=&newrelease_redirect=1

I too will be riding for some forbiden soup in a couple of weeks. Mmmmmm

i got you

Oh yeah the Ninja got the diesel treatment yesterday too

Haven't logged in here for a while. But got the ol' Connie out for rip today. After 12year and 80k miles still love this old girl.

FYI you can go back to your @Danimalaccount if you want. It's been unlocked for a while now.

Cheers to a cool dude. RIP Brother.